Bill Potts in USMA 14642 argued that 12;00 pm is midnight and 12:00 am is
noon. I completely disagree.
In conventional 12-hour style
my day Bill's day
12:00 am 12:00 pm yesterday
12:01 am 12:01 am
..... .....
..... .....
11:59 am 11;59 am
12;00 pm 12:00 am
12:01 pm 12:01 pm
..... .....
11;59 pm 11:59 pm
12:00 am tomorrow 12:00 pm
12:01 am 12:01 am tomorrow
Note that Bill' midnight hour 12 contains one minute (or one second) pm and
59 minutes (or 59 min 59 s), and his noonday hour 12 contains 1 min (or 1s)
am and 59 min (or 59 min 59 s) pm.
In 24-hour notation
my style Bill's style?
23:59 23:59
00:00 24:00
00:01 00:01
00:02 00:02
Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
